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Tough Luck for Rask, Bruins

BOSTON - Faced with a fourth loss, Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask was asked if he took any solace in the Bruins earning a point in their 2-1 shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues.

"Sweet!" said Rask sarcastically.

But that was just about the only emotion that the B's unflappable sophomore goalie showed after the B's second straight setback in as many nights.

"Only [four] games in," said Rask. "And did I pick up the loss from yesterday too? I guess I did. Yeah.

"So, you know it is what it is and it doesn’t matter to me if I win or lose -- the only thing that matters is the team keeps winning.

"The stats are the stats and hopefully people don’t look at them too much," he said.

It was a frustrating night on most accounts for the B's.

Two would-be goals (overturned after a review), several hit posts and some spectacular saves from once-and-again thorn-in-the-Bruins-side Jaroslav Halak (formally of the Montreal Canadiens) were just some of the maladies which plagued the B's from the drop of the puck.

"You can’t get frustrated," said Rask. "You’ve got to appreciate how well the guy plays and you’ve got to match it.

"In goal, you can’t do more than that."

Equally frustrating was the goal by former Boston Bruins forward Vladimir Sobotka.

"I tried to challenge him there," said Rask. "Then he had a lot of time and then I kind of bumped into our D-man.

"It was a good shot, but obviously if you’ve got that much time in front of the net you can pick a corner, but tried to challenge him and did not do a good job."

Rask said the B's worked to try and overcome some of the tough luck.

"Definitely for the team standpoint it is frustrating to hit those posts and not come out with the goals," continued Rask, who commiserated with his teammate Nathan Horton.

"It’s frustrating for a guy like [Horton], a goal scorer, who hits two posts like that and no goals," he said. "But, you know, he battled back."

Rask battled back as well; however, Tuukka, who finished with 34 saves, stopped short of declaring his performance his best of the year.

"Today, if you look at the goals, it was only one goal so maybe it was the most solid game, but today I think I faced a little more shots, too, so I was feeling pretty good," he said. "But I wouldn’t say it was too much of difference from my play in the first two [starts]."

Rask said he would shake it off.

"What can do about it?" he asked. "I just try and win a game when I play and that’s all."